Celebrating Milestones

I don't think I ever really knew how hard children work to learn and grow. Perhaps it is because it seems so fun to an adult. With having Elias, I've been taught a great deal by different therapists and doctors. I can see Elias struggle to coordinate his movements as he reaches for an interesting toy. Half the time I think he shakes the toy in his grasp out of shear joy in reaching his goal. The interesting thing is that it falls out of his hand but he trys again and again. They don't get as discouraged by failure and sometimes I think it's because they find joy in the journey. Another lesson learned, perhaps if I just enjoyed the ride and didn't focus only on the end result life might hold more immediated happiness!

With all our hard work (especially Elias) he's finally holding his head up steady for long periods of time. It took him some time, but he's batting at toys and can grasp toys with his left hand. He has this fierce look of concentration as he reaches for something. It's also amusing to watch him reach with his tongue to 'taste' things. Initally he struggled to bring toys to his mouth so he'd stretch his tongue instead. On occasion he has taste-tested us and likes to knaw on my collar bone. Keila calls these baby kisses.

Keila's reached the epic milestone of being potty trained! She was able much sooner than she wanted to and need some convincing, particularly on the days she wanted to be a baby more than a big girl. She learned quickly though that babies only drink milk and that is not appealing when compared to eggs and cheese so the choice became rather clear as we started each morning. (This is what I call manipulative parenting! Whatever works, right?) She's still in diapers at night but there have been no accidents for weeks now. We had promised her to celebrate as a family with her choice of dessert. She's a girl after my own heart and we got sundays from Freddy's Frozen Custard.

Isaac was rather keen on the reward we promised Keila when she'd reached her goal. He was her best cheerleader and would faithfully report her sucesses to Kent long after she'd forgotten them herself. Here's to an encouraging brother!

Gotta get every last drop! She would have licked the bottom if her tongue could reach it!

Yeah, I think she enjoyed her treat!

We started swim lessons daily with Stephanie Martin, who is AWESOME! It was her older sister that taught me how to get over my fears of swimming so I could do a sprint triathlon. Now I'm pretty much worry free over Isaac. He has swim the lenght of their pool twice easily both on his front and back. Jumping off the diving board was a little intimdating at first but now he's a pro. He's doing so well that I'm considering having him attend the Bellair swim team next year. It would be an awesome outlet for him to help build his confidence, let alone get out some energy.

Keila's improving as well and perhaps next year when Elias is old enough, we might attempt the water park again.

Everyone is growing up so quickly and learning so much. I'm so proud of these little sweeties that I've been blessed with!